Yahoo may overhaul top management next week, report says

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is ready to reorganize the company's top management this week, a report said.

SAN FRANCISCO, 21 FEBRUARY 2009 - Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz may be ready announce a major reorganization of the company's executive ranks next week, according to a news report.

Bartz is expected to name a new senior management team to help turn around the troubled Internet company, and to roll back reorganizational changes made by former CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker, according to a report Friday evening in All Things Digital, a news blog affiliated with The Wall Street Journal.

The changes are likely to be announced Wednesday, though they may be rolled out in pieces over the following week, the report said. It cited unnamed sources inside and outside Yahoo and a memo to staff from Bartz on Friday that pointed to a "big week" ahead.

Bartz, a former executive chairman at software company Autodesk, took on the Yahoo CEO job six weeks ago. She replaced Jerry Yang, who stepped down in November after buy-out talks with Microsoft collapsed and an online advertising deal with Google fell apart.

Last month she acknowleged "fundamental issues" that need to be addressed at Yahoo to sharpen its focus and speed up decision making. "I intend to move quickly to tackle these core issues," she said.

The changes may include a revamped "C-level" management team with a chief operating officer, chief technical officer and a new, more powerful chief marketing officer all reporting directly to Bartz, Friday's report said. The structure would be similar to the one Bartz employed to revitalize Autodesk, it said.

Last month Yahoo reported a net loss of US$303 million for the fourth quarter of 2008, down from a profit of $206 million a year earlier. Revenue slipped 1 percent to $1.81 billion.